- Aussie dollar, a proxy for China, has barely moved in response to a mixed batch of China data.
- China’s retail sales ticked higher ahead of the Lunar New Year Holidays, while industrial production cooled.
- Upbeat spending is currently being overshadowed by the slowdown in the factory activity.
AUD/USD continues to trade in the red near the 50-hour moving average (MA) support of 0.7073 despite the better-than-expected China retail sales data.
Consumption, as represented by retail sales, rose 8.2 percent year-on-year in the January-February period as opposed to an expected drop to 8.1 percent from 8.2 percent.
While spending picked up ahead of Lunar New Year holidays, the factory activity cooled significantly. China’s industrial production in the January-February period increased 5.3 percent, missing the forecast of 5.5 percent year-on-year rise.
While holidays may have disrupted economic activity, China’s factory activity has suffered greatly in the last few months due to ongoing trade issues with the US.
At press time, an above-forecast retail sales release is being overshadowed by the dismal industrial production figure. This is evident from the lackluster action in the AUD/USD. The currency pair fell 9 pips to a session low of 0.7067 post-China data only to rise back to the 50-hour MA, currently at 0.7073.
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